User Anonymous

Extra overnight proofing

I made up some Basic White Sourdough earlier in the day. Then I let it proof overnight in the refrigerator longer overnight by about 4 hours. That would be about a total of 16 hours in the fridge.

[img]http://www.sourdough.com.au/gallery/d/3689-1/feb22.jpg[/img]

You can see that the loaf on the left spread the crust quite a bit! I think that it was too much. Here is a picture of the interior:

[img]http://www.sourdough.com.au/gallery/d/3691-1/feb22a.jpg[/img]

You can see the bubbles looking as if they were rising too fast.
This loaf seems underproofed to me.
However it seemed ready to go in and was bubbly and bouncy, but still pretty cold. Also the crust was super and the taste great, I just lost out on the rise. I liked the extra long proof, but wonder if I need to warm the loaves up better before baking? Any ideas?

4 comments

Thanks SourDom,
I will have a go at it your way and see the results. It seems scary to me
to bake from cold. Do you really mean cold with no warm up waiting???

[quote]
The loaf texture is not as open as I can get if I turn the dough during bulk fermentation, and proove at room temp.
[/quote] (why don't the tags work, anyone know what I am doing wrong?)(Hey I figured it out! I had the BBC code disabled!)

Could I ask what you mean by turn the dough during bulk fermentation? Do you mean during retarding? Or do you mean during first fermentation?
Thanks,
Teresa

not sure. You need to put "quote" (in square brackets) immediately before the text, and "/quote" (in square brackets) immediately after the text to be quoted (without the "")

[quote]
Do you really mean cold with no warm up waiting???
[/quote]

yes. Out of the fridge. Slash away. In the oven
I don't think that this is the 'best' way to make sourdough. It is just a surprisingly effective (and easy) way.

[quote]
Could I ask what you mean by turn the dough during bulk fermentation? Do you mean during retarding? Or do you mean during first fermentation?
[/quote]

If I have the time I prefer to let the dough have 4 hours of proofing at room temperature after initial mixing/kneading, giving the dough a fold (turn) every hour. You can put in the fridge before and/or after that.

When I am pressed for time I mix in the morning before work, have a first proof of 12 hours in the fridge, shape in the evening, proof overnight (12 hours), and then bake from cold in the morning.

I confess that it seems like a counterintuitive way of baking. The dough looks very unpromising before baking (minimal rise in the fridge), but then has enormous oven spring (oven at ~220, terracotta tile, loaf ~70% hydration). The rise is a little less predictable, and more uneven than with a usual proof at room temperature before baking. The loaf texture is not as open as I can get if I turn the dough during bulk fermentation, and proove at room temp.
However nothing beats loaves baked this way for convenience, and the taste is fantastic (pleasantly sour).

Me again, I'm still experimenting with the bake cold or let warm up thing. I have done loaves 12 hours in the fridge, 3/4 hour warm up (oven heating up) and have had a reasonable rise, but not perfect.
I have found that when I did 12 hrs fridge and a 4 hour warm up I had great rising while it warmed up, but almost no oven rise and a slumped loaf, so I consider the loaf overproofed.
The overproofed loaf was very similar to the picture of yours, so I suspect that yours may have been overproofed also.
I am still experimenting with overnight fridge as I like to have fresh bread for lunch, and, with the reasonable keeping qualities I get, if I can get it right I will only have to bake every second morning.
The next try will be to mix and first rise later in the evening and shorten the fridge time a bit.